Stock Market News

Housing stocks were on the rise on Monday amid speculation that the government could soon announce measures to incentivise building on brownfield sites across the UK.

According to reports, Chancellor George Osborne could use his Mansion House speech on Thursday to encourage builders to construct new homes on derelict, previously-developed land in towns and cities, dissuading them from greenfield sites that surround urban areas.

The rumours come just days after the government announced measures to boost housing supply in the UK by easing planning costs for smaller developers in an effort to contain rampant house-price inflation.

Brownfield land in the UK has the potential to house 2.5m new homes, but building on these areas involves high costs such as the decontaminating of soil on former industrial sites.

"There are thousands of acres of serviced land lying fallow in our biggest cities and there should be tax incentives to develop these before starting to build on green fields," said Sir Simon Jenkins, Chairman of the National Trust, as quoted by The Telegraph.

Crest Nicholson was among the best performing stocks in the housebuilding sector today, rising 3.1% to 345.30p.

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